"For GTA 5 we want to push all of these to a new level while incorporating new gameplay elements that would not have been possible before," he told IGN.

"The ability to switch between different characters allows the player to do things that wouldn't have been possible in any other GTA game, and on the multiplayer side we hope that GTA 5 will do for multiplayer open-world games what GTA 3 did for open-world single-player games."

He added: "Refining open-world multiplayer into something really special has been a huge focus of development and we are very excited to share more information with people soon."